


Breathe

by DreamerFae



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, F/M, Illnesses, Out of Character, Terminal Illnesses, based on a movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 14:38:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14046441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamerFae/pseuds/DreamerFae
Summary: Kaneki falls ill.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cast
> 
> Kaneki – main character  
> Hide, Shirazu, Saiko and Arima – Kaneki's friends  
> Tsukiyama – inventor, friend of Kaneki  
> Touka – main character  
> Kou – main character  
> Nishiki – Touka's older brother  
> Ayato – Touka's younger brother  
> Amon - doctor  
> Furuta – head doctor for polio patients  
> Akira – house owner

It all started with a glimpse of violet hair at the corner of the party he attended.

A few hours ago...

"Come on, Kaneki~ it's just one party! I swear it'll be fun!!" Hideyoshi Nagachika aka 'Hide' whined as he pulled on his best friend's sleeve.

"You know I hate parties, Hide. I prefer reading books at home. Besides, I've got some work to do." Kaneki Ken appeared to be slightly annoyed in his reply and tried to remove himself from Hide's grip.

"Reading books home alone ain't gonna relieve you of your 'virgin' status! You need to go out and have fun! Besides, this party is different from the noisy ones at a pub. It'll be somewhat like a tea party where you get to just sit there, eat good pastries and just relax!" Hide explained.

Hearing Hide mention his virgin status made Kaneki flinch and he frowned. But from what he had just heard, the party shouldn't be that bad. It's not about the virgin thing really, it's the tea and pastries that intrigued him. If he could sit there, not interact with people and get free food, then he doesn't mind going.

—

The two best friends arrived at the party in their suits and were shocked at the huge venue and amount of people present. In front of them was a sea of people and everywhere they stepped was nicely maintained grass. It was an outdoor space, with 4 buffet lines at the side, activities such as cricket and badminton in the middle and seats and tables at the sides again. Many royals whom they were not a part of were present at the party, judging from the high-classed dresses and expensive tuxedos they wore.

"Hey guys, you made it! Thanks for coming!" Hide's senior went up to them while waving his left hand and holding a wine glass in his right.

"Senpai you didn't tell you were a royal!" Hide exclaimed excitedly with sparkles in his eyes.

The senior laughed. "Technically I'm not because only my relatives are. My parents are normal people. But well, let's just say they like us enough to buy us this mansion." He replied as he looked back at his white enormous mansion. There had to be at least 20 rooms in that house. "Well enjoy yourselves! I need to go greet my new guests!"

With that, the two males were left there feeling so out of place.

"Well, this is a bizarre sight," Kaneki commented as he looked at the people who were present, royals and normal people. It was bizarre because you don't see royals and normal people interacting in the same place every day.

"I'm gonna grab some drinks for us. Wait here!" Hide said as he jogged off towards the buffet tables.

"Oh wait—!" The blonde haired male was already gone by the time Kaneki called out for him. Standing in the middle of nowhere was definitely weird so he moved to the side and settled down onto an empty seat, whilst still glancing around the crowd.

At the corner of his eye, he saw a girl, who seemed to be around his age, 20ish—with beautiful short violet hair, sitting on a bench a few meters away from him. The girl just happened to turn in his direction and the moment their eyes met, he was captivated by her mesmerizing ocean blue eyes.

That was when he knew he had to talk to her. So he stood up, walked towards her and stopped in front of her. His hands trembled and he started to sweat. Come to think of it, he rarely took the initiative to talk to girls, let alone one at a party and now he didn't know what to talk about. Swallowing, he sputtered out the first sentence that came to his mind. "H-Hey, nice weather we have here, eh?"

It just had to be that cliché starting sentence to a conversation. At that point, all he wanted to do was dig a hole and bury himself for the next few years. While he patiently waited for her response—if she would ever respond—he spent the next few seconds to scan her appearance.

She was wearing a navy blue small ladies top hat on the right side of her head where her long bangs covered half of her face and a black sleeveless satin gown that went all the way to her ankles, where she wore a matching black ankle strapped 4-inched heels.

All of those told him that she belonged to the Royals' side, not his. Royals usually did not want anything to do with the lower-income 'peasants', as they would call, nevertheless, he still wanted to at least try to talk to her.

Kaneki got taken aback when the lady suddenly burst out in laughter and he could only stare dumbfounded and wonder why she was laughing. She laughed until she clutched her stomach and wiped away the tears. "Out of all the pick-up phrases, I sure didn't expect that one. Yes, the weather sure is great for an outdoor party today. Mister...?"

His cheeks burned at her reply. Now she definitely thought that he was lame. "Kaneki Ken. You can just call me Kaneki."

"Nice to meet you, Kaneki. I'm Kirishima Touka. Take a seat." The violet-haired female patted the space beside her on the bench.

His heart leaped in happiness that she was actually responding to his silly question and settled down beside her. They talked the whole afternoon about their family background, their jobs, and hobbies while enjoying some snacks and tea. Despite being strangers, they were strangely able to tell each other about almost everything in their lives. That was how great they got along.

At the end of the party, they arranged to meet again. One date turned into two dates, then three. Before they knew it, they had fallen completely in love with each other and on their 7th month anniversary, Kaneki proposed to Touka. He told her to think about it and give him a reply in 3 days.

\--

Holding the diamond ring in her hands, she stared down at it and heard footsteps behind her. She quickly hid the ring in her drawer and turned to face her 2 brothers. "Hey Nishiki, Ayato."

"You don't have to hide, you know. We know about his proposal and how you've been staring at that damned ring for the past 2 days." Ayato pointed out.

Touka remained quiet as she looked at the floor.

"Well, I don't see the problem with you marrying him. But the question is, do you love him and are you willing to spend the rest of your life with him who doesn't have any name or wealth?" Nishiki asked.

"Yes."

They got married and Touka moved to Kaneki's house to stay. To buy a larger house in the future, they saved up as much money as they could. A few months later, the couple found out that Touka had been pregnant with their first child for 4 months now, making Kaneki the happiest man in the world.

\--

Until that fateful night that changed their lives forever.

\--

Kaneki was sitting on the bed, held his hand over his right shoulder joint and attempted to breathe through his mouth. Being heavily pregnant at 6 months, Touka struggled to sit up in bed and grabbed his hand. "Ken, are you okay?"

She watched as he swallowed and perspire even more than he already was. Worried, she placed a hand on his forehead, to find that he had been running a high fever the whole time. "You're running a high fever! You need the doctor!"

"No no I'm fine, Touka. I just need some water and rest is all." He answered as he stood up, staggered a bit and stumbled over his own feet, crashing painfully to the floor with a groan.

Rushing to the edge of the bed, she grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up. She cursed her belly for being so big at this point, if not she could have lifted up off the ground easily and threw him over her shoulder. Not that he would have allowed her anyway since she was with child. After getting him onto the bed, she quickly called for the ambulance and got him to the nearest hospital which was 20 minutes away.

Touka paced up and down in front of the emergency room and her anxiety only increased when she heard the doctors shout from behind the doors that he wasn't breathing.

It was already midnight by the time everything settled down. When she asked whether her husband was alright, the doctor named Amon, told her that he was, with a slightly hurt expression on his face. He told her to return the next day to talk about this.

The next morning, she came to see the doctor again and he got her to sit down first before starting to explain Kaneki's condition. "Your husband inhaled the polio virus through the droplets in the air. It passed through the bloodstream, into the central nervous system and attacked a big group of cells in the spinal cord. The result is that he's unable to move anything from neck down and can't breathe for himself.

"Right. So how long is he going to be like this?" Touka asked.

Amon cleared his throat and stared straight into her eyes. "The paralysis is reversible. A good medical ventilator is able to maintain life for a few months."

She felt her body robbed of every breath she had and at that moment, she wanted to cry. Not for herself, but for him. But she sucked it up and told herself that she must not show him tears, when he's in more pain than she was.

\--

Pulling herself together, she entered his room which was shared with 6 people, with every patient allocated a bed and visiting space. As she passed by other polio-infected patients, she could see how they looked very sickly and tired of this world, as if they didn't want to live anymore. Why wouldn't they? They were bound to the hospital bed, never to leave it for the remaining of the lives. She hoped that her husband wouldn't be the same as them.

She reached his bed and noticed the ventilator that the doctor mentioned earlier beside him. Stopping there, she took a few moments to observe his changed 'appearance'. It seemed that the doctors made a cut in the middle of his throat to insert a tube that was connected to the ventilator. As his chest heaved, the pump expanded up as well and vice versa.

Kaneki laid on his back and looked dazed as his eyes stared at nowhere in particular. Cupping his cheek, she leaned in to press her lips to his and smiled. At least he looks okay. "Oh Ken... You're going to be alright."

His eyes found hers and he opened his mouth, saddened by the fact that no voice came out. So he mouthed what he wanted to say instead. Touka paid attention to his lips and said his words out loud. "Let...me...die."

Upon hearing that, she gasped and covered her mouth. Tears threatened to slip down her cheeks and she turned her head away to try to regain her composure. After calming herself down, she swallowed and turned back to him. "I won't let you die."

\--

After returning home, she broke down. She cried because she remembered how his hollow eyes, which stared at nothing in the distance--used to be so full of hope and shine. Now, he's nothing but an empty vessel who has lost every reason to live. He couldn't talk anymore, couldn't read his favorite books anymore and can't even live without having a respirator to do his breathing for him.

\--

Touka returned to the hospital again the next day and the many days after that. She would talk to him about what went on in her daily life and update him about their child. It took a week before he was able to talk again but he refused to, whenever she conversed with him.

One day, he asked her. "Why do you keep on coming here?"

"Because I love you and I want to. Do I need any other reason?"

"You shouldn't be wasting your life away here with me. Go out there and have fun. It's not interesting for you to be here at all." Kaneki replied, his hoarse voice devoid of any emotion.

She frowned. "I'm your wife, Ken. I'll never leave you. Even if your body has become like this, I won't stop loving you."

He kept quiet after that and she left. She continued visiting him for another 2 months before she stopped for 2 weeks, returning again with a newborn child in her arms.

"His name is Kou. Born at 39 weeks, at a healthy weight of 3.5kg."

Though he wasn't able to feel anything from neck down, Kaneki swore that his chest felt pained. He couldn't believe that she remembered how he wanted to name their child with a combination of their names, taking the letter 'K' from his name, and 'ou' from her name. He was happy that even if he was sick in bed like this, at least his baby boy was born healthy.

His eyes watered as Kou gave a happy giggle when placed beside his father's head and his lips turned up into a smile. Touka's heart leaped with joy when she saw him having a human emotion for the first time in 2 months.

\--

Despite his baby boy now born, Kaneki still had a mindset of wanting to die and Touka wanted to do anything to help him. "Ken. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better? Do you want to go outside? Or do you want me to bring you something?" She asked.

He contemplated the answer to her question. "Take me out of here. I don't want to stay here anymore."

\--

"Is there any way I can bring my husband back home?" Touka asked Mr. Furuta, the head doctor of polio patients.

He frowned and shook his head. "I'm afraid not. He needs to remain here for the respiratory machine."

"How about we bring the machine home? Will he be allowed to leave then?" She continued.

"It would still be not possible as there is always a probability that there may be a power or mechanical failure. When that happens, he will die within 2 minutes if he doesn't get any oxygen in." Furuta explained.

Touka leaned back in the chair and sighed. Leaving the office, she bit on her fingernail and thought about other ways she could do to bring Kaneki home. But first, she had some stuff to settle.

\--

Akira, an old lady who owned a quiet cottage surrounded by fields that Touka was interested in, asked, "So how much are you willing to offer me for my house? I can sell it to you at 1 million or even 900k."

"...I only have 700k dollars at the moment." Touka mumbled.

"Hmm..." Akira pondered.

She needed this house and had to do anything to convince Akira to sell it to her at that amount of money. "B-But if you sell it to me, I can get it off of your hands and it would be a waste to just leave it here like this, without anyone living in it."

The white-haired woman brought her hand out and smiled. "We have a deal."

Touka shook her hand with a big smile on her face. "Thank you!"

\--

She then went back to the hospital to convince Furuta again but to no avail. "I'm sorry, Ms. Kirishima. The patient's health is of utmost importance to me and I cannot allow you to risk my patient's health."

So she was left with no choice but to sneak him out herself. Amon realized her plans and told her that he was willing to help her.

\--

On that day as planned, Amon, Touka and some nurses detached the respiratory machine, hooked Kaneki up with an oxygen pump, in which Touka helped to pump, and pushed his bed out to the waiting bay where his friends—Hide and Tsukiyama—were, until they heard Furuta shouting at them to stop.

"Where are you taking my patient? Ms. Kirishima, I have already warned you that you will risk his life if you do that. And you—" He pointed to Amon. "What do you think you're doing, going behind my back like this? As a doctor, you should put your patient's health first!" He scolded.

Amon stared straight at Furuta. "I believe in fulfilling my patient's wishes the best I can. Mr. Kaneki is aware of the risks and still hopes to return home to his family and friends."

Kaneki couldn't just keep quiet and let them defend him. "It is my wish, Doctor Furuta. If you don't allow me to leave, I'll get my wife to call the police and tell them I'm being forced to stay against my will."

The head doctor's face turned into a scowl. "Fine. Do whatever you wish. But mark my words, you'll be dead in 2 weeks and wish you had never left the hospital."

"Even if I did die, I would want to do it in my own house, surrounded by my loved ones. Not in this hospital that locks patients in." He mumbled.

\--

They got him into the van and drove off to their new home. Once they reached the small cottage and got him on the ground, Kaneki was surprised to see a familiar view of a metal gate and garden hedges on both sides.

"1, 2 and 3, lift!" Hide and Tsukiyama chanted as they lifted his bed off and managed to get him through the door and onto the newly purchased bed Touka got for him. Hooking him back to the respiratory machine again, they watched closely to see if he was okay and everyone sighed in relief as the pump moved up, and then down.

Kaneki opened his eyes to a white ceiling and then to the smiling faces of his wife and friends around him in the room. "Thank you, guys. I really appreciate it."

Hide patted his best friend's shoulder while Tsukiyama flipped his bangs to the side. "No problem. We'll be leaving now. See you."

He heard the main door close and watched as Touka entered the room with little Kou waddling behind her and a few pillows in her hands—which she positioned behind his back and to let him sit up. His eyes scanned the familiar structure of the room before landing his gaze back to his wife. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but was this the house we said we wanted to buy?

She nodded. "I thought it'd make you happy."

Tears brimmed in his eyes and he sniffed at the thought of her still remembering every promise they made after they got married. "Thank you so much. I don't know what I did to ever deserve you, Touka. I love you."

Touka chuckled and dapped his tears with a tissue paper. "I love you too, crybaby Ken."

Kou watched as his parents tear up together and giggled.


	2. Chapter 2

All of their friends heard the good news and came over one day for a celebratory party. One by one, they entered the room and gave Kaneki a pat on the shoulder for a job well done in leaving the hospital. By 3 pm, all the guests were seated comfortably and queued to talk to him.

The blonde haired male came up first. "Hey dude. Living the life now with your beautiful wife and cute kid, eh? I brought this for you to celebrate." Hide said, holding up a 1955 wine and poured it into a cup, holding it to his best friend's mouth for him to drink.

Kaneki gulped the red wine down and let out an elated sigh. "The wine was good. Thanks Hide, for everything."

He smiled. "No problem."

\--

Next was Saiko, a junior from his school days. "Maman! I brought you some sweets and cake! I baked the cake myself!"

Though he wasn't a big fan of sweet food, he appreciated it anyway, as it was Saiko's way of telling him to get better. "Thank you, Saiko. I'll try them later."

\--

The third was Shirazu, an ex-coworker who admired Kaneki a lot back then for being so hardworking and on point with his work. "Hey. You used to say you liked pets but didn't have enough money to buy one in the past, so uh, I bought one for you."

He placed a cardboard box on Kaneki's lap and his eyes widened when a dog appeared from beneath the box and wagged its tail at him with a soft bark. Everyone in the room laughed at the cute doggy and at Shirazu's weird gift-giving idea.

"Thank you, Shirazu. I like him." His heart warmed at the thought of having another family member in the house from now on.

\--

Lastly, it was Arima, a senior from his high school whom they shared same interests in reading. "I brought some audiobooks for you. Hope you like them."

Kaneki has been dying to read some new books and loved the present. "Thank you, Arima."

\--

"Hey, aren't you guys horrible for forgetting me?!" Tsukiyama screamed and everyone laughed. He walked up and held out a rose bouquet. "For my pretty Kaneki-kun."

Kaneki didn't know what to feel about receiving roses from another guy but thanked him anyway.

\--

The guests left at 8 pm to give Kaneki time to rest and Touka settled Kou in her lap, smiling as she gazed at her husband. "Kou got you a present as well."

"Really? Show me what you got me, Kou." The black haired male grinned down at his son.

The baby boy held up a drawing in his hands and explained it whilst pointing to the respective stickmen. "Daddy, Mommy, Kou and Doggy!"

His heart swelled at the family portrait and he held his tears. How he wished he could reach out, ruffle his son's hair and take his boy into his arms. "Thank you, Kou."

Kou giggled and Touka brought Kou to his room for his bedtime before returning to the room. "Did you get something for me too?" Kaneki asked she watched her settle down on the bed beside him.

"Hmm, well you could say that." She cupped his cheeks and captured his lips. "I love you, Ken."

To him, those words were the best gift he could ever receive. That and his son's drawing.

\--

Kaneki was back to his usual routine of sitting in bed all day and staring out of the window without anything to do. Hearing his son chasing their barking pet dog around the house, the ends of his lips turned up into a smile and he thought, ah this was home.

As the thumping of the floor got closer, Kou ran into his room with the dog following him with lots of giggles and laughter. The male chuckled as the two attempted to play hide and seek in his room, with Kou hiding behind a chair and being found by the dog seconds later.

After running all over the room, they decided to go play outside. Kou ran off first, the dog chasing him tripped over the wire connected to the respirator and pulled the plug out from the socket in the process. Kaneki's smile flipped upside down as the machine turned off and the pump stopped.

He could feel the immediate effects of not having oxygen, as he started to gasp for air and wheeze. Calling for his wife, no sound escaped his mouth. With no air getting in, he couldn't make a sound. A few seconds have passed since his futile attempts in calling for someone, anyone until he tried making a clicking sound with his tongue.

The weird clicking sound alerted Touka and she rushed to his room to see him with his eyes closed. She grabbed the plug and jammed it back into the socket. Her hands trembled as she squeezed his shoulders and shouted his name. Her racing heartbeat wouldn't stop and if she did not see him wake up soon, she would go crazy. "Ken? Ken! Please! Ken!!"

Exhaling from his mouth, Kaneki opened his grey eyes and Touka heaved a sigh of relief. "Well, that was interesting." He joked, smiling.

She hit his chest and tears welled up in her eyes. "You're joking even now? You scared the shit out of me!"

He frowned, guilty at what he said. "I'm sorry-"

Touka leaned in and kissed him, pulling back hesitantly. "I thought you were going to die..."

"I won't. Not so fast, at least."

A grin hung on her lips. "Idiot."

\--

It's been 3 months since Kaneki returned from the hospital and he hadn't been outside the house at all. As he watched Kou at the porch pushing the pram, an idea popped into his head.

"Touka-chan! Could you call Tsukiyama here, please?"

\--

Tsukiyama burst through the door, chest out and swooned. "Bonjour Mon'Amie*! It is to my greatest pleasure and happiness that you've called upon me! Have you finally realized your true feelings towards me-"

*means - hello, my friend!

"Could you make a chair that can bring me outside? Preferably one with wheels and can store my respirator." Kaneki asked, smoothly interrupting Tsukiyama before he finished his sentence.

The purple haired male touched his chin with his hand. "Hm, that's an interesting idea. I'll do whatever I can."

A/N: Tsukiyama is an inventor of machines and whatnot in this story.

\--

"HAH! What do you guys think of my greatest creation ever-" Tsukiyama boasted, chest puffed out and a proud expression on his face.

"How do you feel?" Touka asked.

"Will it actually work?" Nishiki mumbled as he scrutinized every inch of the chair to make sure it was functional. Being an engineer degree holder, he was trained in picking out small details and the mechanism behind various machines and equipment.

"Eh. It's Tsukiyama we're talking about! He wouldn't build something that will endanger his friend's life!" Hide exclaimed.

"You guys! I had enough of you all ignoring me and pretending that I am not here! Do remember that I was the one who made this chair-" Tsukiyama tutted.

"Thank you all of you. Especially Tsukiyama-san. The chair feels great. Why don't we bring it out and give it a try first?" Kaneki suggested.

"With pleasure! " Tsukiyama shouted.

Everyone carried the chair and placed it on the ground. With Kou sitting in Kaneki's lap, Touka started pushing and was amazed at how smooth the chair operated, with not a single bump even after they've moved a few meters.

"This is great. Now I can head outdoors without worrying. Thank you." Kaneki looked up at his friend with a smile.

Wiping a tear away from his eye, the purple haired male smiled, placed a hand on the left side of his chest and bowed. "Anything for you, my friend."

\--

"Touka-chan, I was thinking of traveling. Kou's already 5 years old and we aren't getting younger. What are your thoughts?" Kaneki asked.

His wife smiled at him. "I don't see why not."

Touka was truly glad that he didn't feel like dying anymore and even suggested going on a trip. It was as if he's back to his younger self when they first met.

\--

So the family of three and their dog went traveling the world in a small truck until Kaneki and Touka grew to the old age of 55 and couldn't go traveling anymore. It also seemed that Kaneki's health couldn't hold up any longer. They returned back to their home and watched as Kaneki grew weaker by the days. He spent most of the days sleeping and barely talked to his family.

\--

One night...

"Kou! Kou!" Touka shouted and the now 18-year-old Kou jumped out of his bed, running to his mother to see the bed where his father laid on, filled with blood. He could only stare in horror as his father bled profusely from his neck, with blood gushing out from the hole where his respirator tube was.

"Clean your father up, will you? I'm going to get a change of clothes for him." Touka asked as she passed Kou some towels and Kou nodded, taking the towels from her but still stared at his father.

He snapped out of it and started dabbing at his neck where the blood was coming out from. It saddened Kaneki to see his son's face contorting into one that looked like he was about to cry and he managed a smile, wheezing out, "It's okay, Kou. It's okay."

\--

They called Amon to their house to check on Kaneki's condition and the news wasn't good.

"This happens when one is on the respirator for a couple of years. The lining of the lungs gets irritated. You get bleeding and it's going to get worse. This means more bleeding, bigger bleeding. The risk is you drown in your own blood."

\--

The second bleeding happened another few days later and it was just as Doctor Amon has said-worse.

After cleaning Kaneki up and changing his shirt for him, Touka took the basket full of bloody clothes and bedsheets and turned. "Touka-chan. That's enough."

By those words, she knew what he meant.

\--

The next morning...

"Touka. It's time for me to go. I'll call Amon now and he'll help me settle it."

Tears dripped down her cheeks. Though she didn't want to let him go, she didn't want him to suffer anymore. He has lived the past 30 years for her and Kou and it'll be too selfish for her to keep him any further when he's suffering so much.

\--

"I'll leave you guys to say your goodbyes," Amon said and left the room.

Kou went first and sat down on the bed. Kaneki smiled at his son. "My dear son, thank you for coming into our lives and giving us so much happiness. You will always be my little boy."

Smiling, Kou bit his lower lip to stop himself from crying and leaned in to kiss his father's temple. "I love you too, Dad. Goodbye."

Next was Touka's turn as Kou stood up to let her sit down. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Kaneki started first. "Touka, my darling. Thank you for everything you've done for me. If it weren't for you, I would have died in that hospital without experiencing any happiness in life."

Tears dripped down her cheeks and she chuckled. "You bet. Even if you still insisted on dying, I would have threatened you to live." She slowly stopped laughing and moved to kiss him on the lips. "Thank you for living. And for being a great husband and a father to our son. Goodbye."

Exhaustion hit him and memories of his whole life suddenly returned to him. How he met Touka-his wife at the party, the many dates they went on, their marriage ceremony, how he felt when he found out that she was pregnant, and the last thing that he saw was a family picture of them smiling. He let out a smile and closed his eyes forever.

\--

After Kaneki's death, as per his last request, Touka informed their family and friends about how he died peacefully in his sleep but left out the part that he chose to die earlier than he was supposed to. It was because he wanted them to think that he was a man who lived his life to the fullest and didn't have any regrets.

A memorial was made for him at the polio society to have been the first man to live past the expected age of a polio-patient at 20 years.

\--

Touka didn't remarry and was a grandmother to 3 grandchildren many years later. She would always tell them stories about their grandfather and would be reminded each time how much she loves and misses him.

He was the love of her life and she will never forget him.


End file.
